Insider is reminiscing about the past 10 years of musical greats with a series of opinion essays dedicated to the artists who inspired fans around the world. Here, writer Mark Braboy explains why he believes Kendrick Lamar is the greatest artist of the decade.

Lamar is a compelling and honest storyteller who never compromised on either his core sound or values, making him an unprecedented outlier in music, and more specifically, hip-hop.

This decade, he consistently put out culturally relevant work and he achieved a dizzying amount of success doing so — he even became the first hip-hop artist to win a Pulitzer.

It was on a rainy October 22 night that my life changed after leaving the student publication building, deflated after an editorial disagreement with a student editor. I was a volunteer staff writer for the school paper then. Following a pep talk from the paper's advisor who doubled as my news writing professor to "write about the things I was most passionate about," my best friend Brodrick eagerly called and told me, "Mark, in the car, we're going to Best Buy! The album's out!"

Long story short, I rushed to the campus parking lot, hopped in his Chrysler 300 and from there we fled and copped the album.

After we were left in awe during our first listen, I immediately spent the rest of the weekend writing my very first album review that gave Lamar the same high praise as nearly every other music outlet did at the time. "GKMC" was a rare, instant classic.

Lamar is an unflinchingly honest storyteller who never compromised on either his core sound or his values

Through the combined powers of his foundational team at Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), Interscope Records, and the legendary Dr. Dre, Lamar quickly shattered many barriers in commercial music and entertainment that historically plagued both gangster and "conscious" rappers.

While most of his influencers and predecessors like Mos Def, 2Pac, DMX, and MC Eiht to name a few, have all earned notable record sales, Billboard chart rankings, and critical praise, they were never fully embraced within the mainstream music machine between radio (excluding obvious exceptions) and notoriously, the Recording Academy. Despite losing the award for best rap album at the 2014 Grammy Awards to Macklemore's "The Heist," Lamar went on to win 13 Grammys, eight BMI Awards, six Billboard Awards, and 17 ASCAP awards.

Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN." won best rap album at the 2018 Grammys.
Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

He achieved a dizzying amount of success that many assumed was unimaginable due to the thoughtful content of his music and how he sounded different than anything that was out during the early 2010s.

Lamar thrived in a unique musical climate in the 2010s that saw free mixtapes get released online and independent websites hosting the latest albums

During the early 2010s, a new generation of fans were tapping into artists such as Lamar himself, J. Cole, Rapsody, Jay Rock, the late Nipsey Hussle, Big Sean, Gucci Mane, Wiz Khalifa, and Meek Mill among many others who frequently dropped free mixtapes and independent albums on platforms like DatPiff and LiveMixtapes.

His narratives on his life, neighborhood, spirituality, and societal issues, combined with top-notch lyricism and warping vocal deliveries, got the attention of fans and critics alike. Writer Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian described Lamar in an op-ed as "an extraordinarily vivid and unpredictable storyteller with a tendency to radically change his music, vocal tone and lyrical direction midway through a song, zooming in or out so that the second half complicates and subverts the first."

His influencer, Nas, also gave him similarly high praise in a 2014 interview with Complex.

"There's not many like him. He's a breath of fresh air. His s--- is genius. This dude's a rhyming animal. I feel like he's going to be one of the most important writers of our time as we watch him go forward. Without a question, you can already see that. It's definitely a high that I always get from the music," he said.

Kendrick Lamar performs onstage during Coachella at the on April 13, 2018 in Indio, California.
Larry Busacca/Getty Images

His music also became the lyrical backdrop of the greater Black Lives Matter movement

Lamar's Interscope debut "GKMC" was released a few months after the tragic killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. His bolder follow-up, "To Pimp a Butterfly" (2015) and its single "Alright" featuring Pharrell, became the unofficial soundtrack to the Black Lives Matter movement amid a continuing wave of fatal police violence against unarmed black Americans across the country.

Lyrics like, "N----, and we hate po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho' / N----, I'm at the preacher's door / My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow / But we gon' be alright," were a rallying call heard from street corners to protests signifying that despite the well-documented history of trauma that black Americans continue to endure, we'll continue to find our ways to overcome our struggles and be OK.

The timing and cultural relevance of his work is what continues to make his music evergreen.

On the financial front, Lamar's unapologetic blackness led to astonishing lucrative success

On the road, he reportedly grossed a staggering $40,562,179 with an average of over $1.2 million per show during the critically and commercially successful "DAMN." tour in 2017, according to Pollstar. Lamar has made Forbes' annual Hip-Hop Cash Kings list in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018 earning millions of dollars in ways not limited to all three of his platinum-selling albums (including the "Black Panther" soundtrack), merchandise, and tour success.

From owning real estate to his lucrative deals he's had with Reebok, Beats by Dre, Nike, Calvin Klein, and American Express, Lamar's superstardom and impact on culture has allowed him to become a music and brand mogul in his own right. The rapper has consistently been in demand in the entertainment business, and with his new Nike React Element 55 sneakers just released on November 5, business is still booming.

Kendrick Lamar performs at The BRIT Awards held at the O2 Arena on February 21, 2018 in London, England.
Samir Hussein/WireImage

There are only a handful of artists in music whose legacies superseded the wealth and fame they've accumulated throughout their careers. And while Lamar has plenty of that, the strongest parts of his legacies go beyond it all. While he's been compared to the late Tupac Shakur throughout his career it's still far too premature to accurately gauge that influence. But what can be said is that he has sparked a blaze behind a generation of current and future musicians, creatives, thinkers, and writers alike.

And he did it all by being a very good kid in an even madder world.

Mark P. Braboy is a Chicago-based culture journalist who specializes in black music and its intersection between entertainment and the cruel society it comes from. He's been published in over 15 publications and is a member of the NABJ-CC. He's also a sucker for Three 6 Mafia and underrated clean air of Mississippi. Find him on Twitter and Instagram at @Shootyourmark.

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author(s).